In late June 2021, Baihetan, the world’s second-most powerful hydraulic power plant, was brought on line in south-western China, as reported by orf.at. Chinese government representatives referred to this inauguration as a milestone on the way to implementing Beijing’s climate goals. However, environmental agencies and scientists warned of possible environmental damage. The plant’s reservoir dam was constructed near the border between the provinces of Yunnan and Szechuan. So far, construction work has been ongoing for four years. Measuring 289 m in height, the dam wall is designed to impound the headwater of the Yangtze, the world’s third-largest river. Once completed, the power plant will house 16 turbines, each of which having a bottleneck capacity of 1 gigawatt. At the initial startup stage, two of the 16 machine units have now been taken into operation. The final inauguration of the facility with its full output capacity is scheduled for summer 2022.

photo credits: news.con